Provisional Status Explained

Provisional status indicates either that the applicant has not yet graduated with a bachelor’s degree, or that there were certain deficiencies in the applicant’s record at the time they were admitted.

• The most common reason to be labeled provisional is that a student has not taken the Graduate Record Exam upon admittance. If you are in that category, you must take the GRE no later than your first semester in the program, or the Graduate College will not allow you to enroll for courses in succeeding semesters.
• Another common reason for provisional status is that a student is that a student does not have sufficient background in the discipline of history. We accept many excellent students whose educational background is in another field. We value students with such expertise and varied perspective they bring to the program, but require them to take coursework during their first semester or year (as spelled out in the letter of acceptance) that will enable them to work successfully as historians.
• Other students come to our program with great promise but a checkered academic background. Those students receive provisional status in order to give them the opportunity to demonstrate that they belong in, and can succeed in, our master’s program. If you fall into this category, you should be aware that your status is not only provisional but probationary. In this case, your first semester of coursework, as well as our required core courses, will be critical for you.
• Any student who has been admitted provisionally will receive a letter from the graduate coordinator spelling out exactly what he/she must accomplish to remove that status; when the student has done so, he/she will be granted regular status. If the student does not fulfill the conditions for advancement to a regular status for a prescribed time, he/she will be dropped from the program.